Dungeons & Dragons Arguably the most popular role playing game ever to exist. This forum is for the discussion of topics particular to Dungeons and Dragons in its many incarnations throughout the past from the original red box set to the current 3.5 edition.

Just a minor peeve fellows, the original box was "white".

Mulsiphix

01-05-2008, 10:55 PM

He's correct

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/D%26d_Box1st.jpg

tesral

01-06-2008, 12:26 AM

Dude, you still have the box!!!??? Mine died years ago, many many years ago. Cheap thing didn't hold up to five to six nights a week playing.

gdmcbride

01-06-2008, 02:08 AM

Actually if we're being fact fanatics, in 1973 at Eastercon, a plain woodgrain box was sold in very limited quantities. That was D&D's first commercial release.

In January of 1974, the first distributed release was not a white box either. It was a wood grain box with a white sticker.

To read the whole detailed release history go to:
http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/original.html

Gary

tesral

01-06-2008, 02:26 AM

Learn something new every day. Mine was the white box, no starburst, with parchment colored books. It seems the most common run. I bought same in July of 76. I killed the box hauling it around. I still have the books although my Greyhawk Supliment did lose the cover from handling.

They were quickly discarded when AD&D came out in 79. The layout of 1e was so much better, even if it was so bad compared to later editions.

But I'm likely preaching to the choir here.

Drohem

01-06-2008, 02:40 AM

Actually if we're being fact fanatics, in 1973 at Eastercon, a plain woodgrain box was sold in very limited quantities. That was D&D's first commercial release.

In January of 1974, the first distributed release was not a white box either. It was a wood grain box with a white sticker.

To read the whole detailed release history go to:
http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/original.html

Gary

Darn! Beat me to it. :)

Mulsiphix

01-06-2008, 04:16 AM

Dude, you still have the box!!!??? Mine died years ago, many many years ago. Cheap thing didn't hold up to five to six nights a week playing.Nah I don't own it. I just grabbed that from a wiki that contained the history and compared the different versions of D&D released over the years.

gdmcbride

01-06-2008, 10:27 AM

You want to talk about early D&D trivia from hell -- what most people forget is that the first release of D&D was not a complete game.

It required Avalon Hill's "Outdoor Survival" wargame.

I recommend visiting www.acaeum.com and snooping around. You can get the whole story about D&D's birth and release history.

And though not actually the first release, the white box was the first to be printed in any numbers (only a thousand or so of the wood grain boxes were ever made). It was the product that started transforming D&D from an obscure hobby of a few Wisconsin war gamers into the world wide phenomenom that roleplaying has become.

Gary

imtheguido

01-06-2008, 11:07 AM

Everything good in the world comes from Wisconsin! Waffle Cones, MGD, That 70's Show (While not from, based in), A whole crap load of movies make mention of Wisconsin if they don't take place there, Worlds greatest cheese and D&D! >.> Sorry, had to throw in my two cents.

rabkala

01-06-2008, 12:02 PM

Well said, imtheguido. Keep it up and I'll talk to my friends at the tourism information board about a job for you. WI most certainly has contributed a great deal to make this nation great.

I think the distinction between the early work and the red box is war gaming. Many see the red box as the inception of D&D as a true role playing game (as per the marketing) where the precursor was Chainmail war games. The white and woodgrain boxes (still called 'rules for fantastic medieval wargames') were transition pieces to a much truer role playing game.

Digital Arcanist

01-06-2008, 02:15 PM

Everything good in the world comes from Wisconsin! Waffle Cones, MGD, That 70's Show (While not from, based in), A whole crap load of movies make mention of Wisconsin if they don't take place there, Worlds greatest cheese and D&D! >.> Sorry, had to throw in my two cents.

I'm sorry but good cheese comes from Wisconsin but the best cheese comes from happy cows and happy cows live in California....:p

My governator can beat your governor up!!:D

rabkala

01-06-2008, 02:33 PM

Yeah, we know what they do to those cows to make them so happy in CA. Most of us prefer our cheese without additives. :D

Dungeons & Dragons Arguably the most popular role playing game ever to exist. This forum is for the discussion of topics particular to Dungeons and Dragons in its many incarnations throughout the past from the original red box set to the current 3.5 edition.
The emphasis is mine. One of my first DMs, an original play tester, had a signed copy of the original Chainmail rules. That does not make it D&D or a role playing game either.

Mulsiphix

01-06-2008, 11:26 PM

This is a good read (http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=332091#332091). It includes a great number of photos of the Castle & Crusade Society Chainmail Tribute Game played at Lake Geneva Gaming Convention in 2006 by Gygax and other PnP gods.

DrAwkward

01-09-2008, 05:59 PM

Yeah, we know what they do to those cows to make them so happy in CA. Most of us prefer our cheese without additives. :D

Those additives are what make our cheese sell. Imagine if cheez whiz gave you the munchies...

In any case, gonna have to change to forum label to accomodate 4e. Unless the consensus is that 4e just takes us full circle back to wargaming...

rabkala

01-09-2008, 06:53 PM

More likely, 4e is a transition piece into computer gaming. I guess only time will tell what history says of that!

tesral

01-09-2008, 11:10 PM

I think wait and see the best policy. It is far too easy to panic over shadows.

Meanwhile that "Red Box" thing....

Mulsiphix

01-10-2008, 01:12 AM

In the end if 4E brings "real" new pen and papers to the fold I am grateful for it. This niche hobby wouldn't be as popular as it is today without D&D and while I hate the money mongering behaviors of corporate america, I am thankful for the "authentic" new blood that it generates. The more popular pen and paper gaming becomes a whole is a blessing to us all.